I’m a big fan of the film Jaws. I’ve probably seen it twenty times, if not more. The scene that gets me the most, every single time, is the one with the two dumb fishermen who attach a huge roast to a meat hook, attached a chain, attached to the old wood pier that they stupidly stand on, in the hopes of snagging the massive killer fish.

You know this one. The shark bites and takes off with it, pulling half the pier into the water, and dragging one of the knuckleheads with it. The knucklehead then desperately tries to swim back to the remains of the other half of the pier while his friend desperately encourages him to swim faster, not look back as the big bad shark has turned around and is swimming towards him. The dimwit finally gets to the pier and his friend is able to pull him out of the water in time as the sharks just nearly misses him. Exhausted, the dumb fortunate fisherman asks if they can go home now. Good Lord in Heaven.

On Thursday night, in the final moments of a tightly competitive ballgame, the Seattle Seahawks were that fortunate fisherman, and the Rams were that terrifying apex predator.

Wow. What a game. Where do we begin.

The Good

Russell Wilson was phenomenal yet again. He likely needed to win a shootout with Jared Goff for Seattle to win this one, and he did. LA might be the better team now, but Seattle had the best player on the field, and it was enough get the win. After the game, Pete Carroll said that he thought it was one of the best games Russell had ever played. He might be right. Russ connected on 17 of 23 passes for 268 yards and 4 touchdowns without an INT. He also ran for critical yards that kept multiple scoring drives alive. Wilson is having an MVP level season, so far. There is no question or debate about it.

Running back Chris Carson was a beast. Early on, LA was owning Seattle with their intensity, but as the game went on, Seattle was able to match them, and Carson’s tough running was a big part of that.

Second year tight end Will Dissly has continued his 2019 campaign of having anohter strong game. Dissly was a boss against the Rams, and it feels like he is becoming Wilson’s favorite passing target outside of Tyler Lockett. I love everything about Will Dissly.

Tyler Lockett had another superb game. His connection with Russell Wilson is on another planet in another solar system in football. His touchdown catch in the first quarter is the best catch that I think I’ve ever seen out of a player in a Seahawk uniform, and that’s not taking anything away from Steve Largent or Doug Baldwin.

Rookie receiver DK Metcalf had a beautiful deep touchdown grab taking the top of the Rams’ defense. This is the threat this guy poses every time he is on the field, and he is just getting going.

Much also credit needs to be given to reserve offensive lineman JaMarco Jones for stepping in for injured DJ Fluker and more than handling himself matched against ALL WORLD defensive tackle Aaron Donald. If there wasn’t so many other insane aspects about this game, this story would be talked about more.

Seattle’s defense was typically bend don’t break against a Rams offense built to get their yards. They didn’t rack up any sacks, but they got good pressures that effected Goff’s passing, and Poona Ford had an awesome tackle for loss early on Todd Gurley. The stat line isn’t gong to show that they played a great game, but I actually thought they did enough to slow the Rams down, and made critical plays when they had to.

Truth. Defensive tackle Al Woods goal line stop of Jared Goff on a two point conversion attempt proved to be as important of a play as any in this game. In reflection, that key stop cannot be overlooked.

All of this leads me to free safety Tedric Thompson. He was the undeniable hero of this game, coming up with a crazy inches off the ground interception in the final minutes. I’ve been pretty critical of Tedric this year, but I have to give this dude his credit. That was as special of a play on the ball as anything Earl Thomas has ever done. Just tremendous. My hope is that this play is the moment that gets him going. He was a great play-maker in college. It just hasn’t translated in the pros until this point. This is the Tedric that we need more of moving forward.

Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein missed that field goal at the end, which was AWESOME.

The Bad

I didn’t like some of the yards that Seattle’s defense gave away to Todd Gurley. On one first half play that was a twelve yard gain, it looked like linebacker Mychal Kendricks gave up containment on a zone read, and in the second half, the Rams made Seattle’s aggressive front pay with a draw play that lead to a long Gurley TD in the red zone. Gurley annoys me, and I hate seeing him have a big game against my team. Thankfully, the defense held him in enough check on other plays.

I didn’t like how Pete Carroll went for it on fourth down towards the end of the first half, and then RW called a time out after he couldn’t draw the Rams off-sides, and then they set up for a missed field goal. I kinda think had they just gone for the kick, Myers would have made it, but that’s just me.

In a tight game, DK Metcalf needed to haul in a fourth quarter two point conversion pass from Wilson and it bounced out of his hands. The rookie has been a phenom for the most part so far in this season, but not on that play.

I really didn’t love that weird read option QB keeper thingy that Seattle ran on third and short in the closing minutes of the game that the Rams sniffed out and Wilson awkwardly pitched it to Tyler Lockett for a big loss. Generally, I dug the play calls from Brian Schottenhiemer in this match, but let’s toss that play out of the playbook. Had Zuerlein made that field goal, that play would have been talked about endlessly for the week and a half. That was the Shark that started to turn around and swim towards the Seahawks.

The Ugly

Clay Matthews’ hair. Seriously, though. This dude annoyed me almost immeasurably when he was in Green Bay. Now I have to watch him play against my Hawks twice a year in a Rams uniform? Icky gross.

Final Thoughts

At the beginning of the season, I predicted that the Seattle Seahawks would go 11-5 this year. After beating these Los Angeles Rams at home, they are now 4-1, and are on a solid pace for that. There is still work to do with this team, though.

Primarily, it still feels like they are figuring out the pass rush. I don’t think it is as terrible as some seem to believe. While they didn’t generate any sacks against these Rams, the pass rush effected Goff enough to get him off target, and that was enough for this win. I just think that with all the new faces that they are now relying on, it’s going to take some time. I think they get better as the season goes and soon enough they will add pass rushing defensive tackle Jarran Reed. He has got to come in ready to go. Its important for him and this team.

Offensively is where I think Seattle is finding its grove, and it’s looking quite groovy. They can run, and they can pass, and they have young talent stepping up and proving themselves now. There is a lot of reason for optimism in that.

This is also Russell Wilson’s best start to any season he has ever had, and that is the early season story-line for me. He has been an elite quarterback for a while now, but this year, it feels like he is taking it to a whole new level. It also just feels like for the first time in his career, the Seattle Seahawks are truly his team, and he is running with that. He’s never seemed so comfortable and sure, even in the occasional choas. As much as I love the LOB, Marshawn, Michael Bennett and Doug Baldwin, I have to admit that it is more than refreshing that this team is finally Russell’s. He’s earned that.

Are they a Super Bowl contender this year? I don’t know, but I do think that 11-5 is reasonable, and if they beat the Rams once more who knows. Still a lot of football left to play, but I like what I’m seeing thus far. I really do.

I like it a lot.

Go Hawks.